The Land of the Silver Apples
The Land of the Silver Apples''' - The second volume of The Saxon Saga written in 2007, by a fantasy author Nancy Farmer. The book is a sequel to The Sea of Trolls which is an opening volume of the so-called ''The Sea of Trolls series. Main Plot T'''''he Land of the Silver Apples takes place in the same village in England, but 2 years after the events in The Sea of Trolls. Jack is treated as he was treated before. He is not considered a hero. The villagers are preparing for the celebration of winter solstice, the longest night of the year. At that day every fire in every house in the village is put out. Most of the villagers gather in chief’s cottage and together with the Bard they ignite the Need Fire, which is the fire that will ensure that Jotuns will stay in their own realm. After igniting the Need Fire, a girl would fire a candle and take it to everyone in the village, so that they could ignite their house fires from that candle. Lucy is the one that is to carry out the ritual of lightening the candle. Unfortunately she is wearing an iron necklace, and it was forbidden, because iron or even silver could spoil the Need Fire. That was the same necklace Thorgil had stolen on one of their raids. He had to give it as a gift to Queen Frith, and Queen Frith gave it to Lucy. Instead of Lucy, Pega was asked to perform the ritual to an end. She was chief’s slave girl, who helped him in the house. She was small, thin, and had a scar on her face, which did not give her an attractive look. Pega takes the candle from the Bard and ignites it. Then she ignites another four candles that villagers take to ignite other fires in the village. The Bard tells Pega that she may keep the candle. Few days later Giles wants to buy Pega from the chief. It turns out that Lucy “demanded” that she wants a slave. Jack, the Bard and Aiden witness the deal between Jack’s father and the chief. In the last moment Jack tops an offer and buys Pega for the gold the Northmen gave him. Jack buys her only to liberate her. Pega lives from that day with the Bard, who is teaching Jack a new spell of far-sight. At the same day Alditha comes to bard’s cottage saying that Lucy has gone mad. Lucy thinks of herself as of a lost princess and treats others like objects. She used to do that before, but everyone thought it was just child’s imagination. Now Lucy actually thinks she IS a lost princess. Giles reveals the secret he kept for 7 years. The real Lucy was replaced by hobgoblins when she was little, and Lucy is a daughter of elven queen. Giles could not find his real daughter at that time, so he brought Lucy back home, and raised as his own child. Now they need to find out who and where took Hazel (Giles and Alditha’s real daughter) and bring her back. They consult brother Aiden, decide to try exorcisms on Lucy, and go to St. Fillian’s Monastery near Din Guardi, to father Swein, who specializes in exorcisms. Thus the Bard, Jack, Giles, Lucy, Aiden, and Pega travel to St. Fillian’s Monastery, outside of Din Guardi castle and the village called Bebba’s Town. When they arrive to the monastery Jack witness a strange creature, later revealed to be Lady of the Lake, one of the elvenkind. Lady of the Lake strikes him down with a magic arrow, and one of monastery’s slaves, Brutus, takes care of Jack. During the exorcisms, which are barbaric due to the behavior of monks who were ducking people under water of the holy well, Jack furiously evokes a powerful earthquake. The earthquake grabs Father Swein, Lucy, and Guthlak, who was being exorcised; destroying parts of the monastery and makes the holy well dry. Afterwards Jack is taken prisoner by king Yffi, and locked in Din Guardi. King Yffi, however, is a half-breed human, kelpie. He killed the former king and have taken control over the castle and ordered to turn lake into a holy well in the monastery, locking Lady of the Lake within. After Jack’s earthquake Lady of the Lake disappeared and dried all the wells within a mile from Bebba’s Town. That’s why king Yffi orders Jack, Pega, and Brutus to enter the tunnel opened by the earthquake, find Lady of the Lake, and persuade her to return water to Bebba’s Town. Jack has also an opportunity to find Lucy, Hazel, and bring them back. The three of them go to the tunnels, and despite the warnings of the Bard, they enter the tunnel with no air flow, in which they encounter the Knucker. Knucker is a shapeshifter, appearing as one’s greatest nightmare. Jack uses his staff to conjure fire and scare Knucker away, but during the attempt he sets part of the cave on fire. It collapses, and Pega and Jack are separated from Brutus. After a while they find a way out of the tunnels, lured by the full moon. Jack and Pega are now in Elfland, where everything is perfect and beautiful. The trees are fruitful, the game trusting. They fill their stomachs and go to sleep. In the morning they discover they have been covered with a high-end wool blanket, and given food. The next day, traveling through Elfland, Jack and Pega find Thorgil, unconscious and trapped in moss, tightening around her whole body. They release her and Thorgil tells them how she ended up in Elfland. She came to the shore of England with Skakki and his crew, looking for the entrance to Elfland. She entered with Heinrich, king Ivar’s nephew. They also encountered the Knucker and got separated. Then Thorgil killed a young deer in Elfland, bringing the nature’s vengeance upon herself. Now the three of them travels to find Lucy, Lady of the Lake, and a way out. One night the creatures that brought them food and cloakes appear, touching Pega. They are kobolds, hobgoblins; “They were like small men, dressed in clothes that blended with the rocks. Their skin was covered in blotches, and they had large, sleepy-looking eyes. Their noses were two slits above a wide, lipless mouth, and their hair—what there was of it—was plastered over damp-looking foreheads. They had long fingers that were flattened unpleasantly at the ends.” Jack, Pega, and Thorgil meet the hobgoblins king, Bugaboo, and his advisor, Nemesis. Later on the hobgoblins take them to the heart of their realm, holding Jack, Pega, and Thorgil as captives, but treating as guests. The three did not know how long they were in hobgoblins kingdom, but nonetheless they were in the Elfland, where elves controlled the time, not allowing it to flow. That’s why there was always a full moon, called by the inhabitants the Silver Apple. Some day of imprisonment Bugaboo asks Pega to marry him, but Pega doesn’t want to marry a hobgoblin, and Jack persuades Bugaboo to wait some time, until Pega decides for herself if she wants to marry him. Later Pega tells Lucy’s story and Bugaboo admits that he wanted to give the elves a payback for their misbehavior, kidnapped elven child, Lucy, and replaced her with Hazel, taking Hazel for himself. Hobgoblin couple, the Blevits, adopted Hazel, making her one of their own kind. She is behaving like hobgoblins, but even though she belongs in Midgard, the Blevits refuse to give her back. In order to save his king from foolish actions, such as marrying a human, Nemesis throws Jack, Pega, and Thorgil to a maelstrom inside underground lake in one of the tunnels. They swim up in Elfland, where everything is perfect, beautiful, and they forget about their quest, all due to the Glamour created by the elves, the illusion. In Elfland they encounter a group of Picts, and are taken as prisoners before Queen of the Elves in Elfhame. In the throne room, the three captives spot Brutus, who is at side of Lady of the Lake, Nimue, and also the royal family: Partholis, Partholon, and their daughters, Lucy and Ethne. Although Ethne is not Partholon’s daughter, she was conceived by an unknown man. Before the royal family, each of them, Jack, Pega, and Thorgil, is asked to perform. Pega sings Brother Caedmon’s hymn, which is a glorification of Heaven and Earth, and elves who were discarded from heaven cannot stand it. They cry and order the Picts to throw the three kids to their dungeon. In the cells they meet Father Severus, whom Jack last saw on the slave market, sold by Olaf to the Picts. Guthlac and Father Swein, St. Fillian’s abbot, are also in the dungeon. The dungeon was out of reach of the glamour, so their senses were not dulled. Many days later they are summoned before Partholis, to be sacrificed to what Father Saverus calls “Satan” – a great evil that takes offerings during summer solstice. Shortly before the ceremony Nimue tells that, requested by Brutus, she will return water to Bebba’s Town and surrounding areas. During the ceremony the elves organized “poetry evening” and “gladiators fight”, the first being mocking Father Severus when saying prayers, the other Father Swein facing Guthlac in a fight. Next a terrifying creature comes out of the great fire in the center, the creature that demands sacrifices. Thorgil tries to fight it, but gets injured in her hand instead. Jack tells Pega to light her little candle, the one she received after the ceremony of need-fire. Only the real fire can destroy the fire and everything around that is an illusion. Nonetheless, the creature still demands a sacrifice. Guthlac throws Father Swain to the creature, and the tentacles consume him, then the demon inside Guthlac breaks free and Guthlac dies. The creature, still displeased, captures one of the elves, Gowrie, and the sacrifice is complete. Afterwards everything goes dark, only the small candle provides light, but soon the elves try to restore the glamour, and the kids, together with Father Severus and Ethne are saved by hobgoblins, who show them the way out to Midgard, into the Forgotten Forest. They travel together to the beach where Skakki had his camp, but are unable to return to Bebba’s Town without a ship. Hobgoblins guide them through the tunnels that lead beneath Din Guardi. While travelling the tunnels they encounter Gnomes, attracted by Pega’s singing. The Gnomes, or Yarthkins, in gratefulness allow the fellowship to pass, and they reach the realm of Din Guardi, protected by the Unlife, which prevents the Old Ones from entering. Soon they come to the castle, but are (again) imprisoned by the guards, but Father Severus introduces Ethne as a princess, and she is granted an audience with king Yffi. They all come to the audience, but Ethne tells Yffi about the hobgoblins, and they are imprisoned. Yffi, being a half-kelpie wants to eat the hobgoblins. Jack and Thorgil order Ethne to create a glamour to fool the guards, and they enter the tunnels with Pega to seek help from the Gnomes. The Gnomes agree to help the kids, but in order to destroy the Unlife Jack needs to put his staff, a branch of Yggdrasil, on the edge of the Unlife. The Gnomes purified the fortress, put Yffi and other villains to the dungeon. Jack, Pega, and Thorgil meet with Brutus, who was also a prisoner in the dungeon, and hobgoblins. They thank Gnomes for their help and leave Din Guardi. Afterwards the Forest Lord attacks the fortress, completely destroying it, killing everyone inside. On the next day Brutus becomes the new lord of Din Guardi and promises to rebuild it; Ethne decides to become a nun; Father Severus becomes the new abbot of St. Fillian’s; Bard meets his daughter, Ethne; Jack, Thorgil, Pega, Bard, Giles, and Aiden finally return home, to their village. Characters § JACK – an 11 year old boy. Son of Alditha and Giles. Brother to Hazel, step-brother to Lucy. Lives with his parents in a village in England. At the age of 11 he becomes bard’s apprentice. Along with Bard he conjures the mist to save the village from destruction. Kidnapped with his step-sister Lucy by berserkers, led by Olaf One-brow. He becomes Olaf’s skald and together with Runa, an elder skald, prepared a song in Olaf’s honor. Taken to Norway to king Ivar Boneless and queen Frith’s court. Singing a song and at the same time casting a spell on queen Frith, that revealed her true self as a half-troll, by mistake. In order to save his step-sister Lucy from death at the hand of Frith, he travels with Olaf and Thorgil to Jotunheim, to ask the Mountain Queen of Jotuns about Mimir’s Well. Drinking water from the Well could provide knowledge how to reverse Jack’s spell and bring back Frith’s beauty. Their fellowship loses Olaf in Jotunheim, who dies during the fight with giant troll bear. Jack finds a staff of an ash tree, coincidentaly burning the ice bridge to the queen’s castle, and finally gets to Jotun Queen castle. Jack encounters the Norn and in the end gets permission to go with Thorgil to Mimir’s Well. In order to drink the water he sacrificies his rune amulet and gives it to Thorgil. On their way back they are spotted by the dragon and have to hide somewhere. Unfortunately they, despite Mountain Queen’s warning, run towards the rocks instead of the forest. The rocks are in fact spiders, and kids are taken by giant spider mother to her nest on top of a tree. Jack saves the day by vibrating the web in tunes of a lullaby. The giant spider falls asleep and Jack and Thorgil are saved by Bold Heart and the 3 owls. Afterwards they go straight to the ship. They return to Olaf’s village and Jack finds the wisdom to reverse the spell put on Frith. After what he’s done, Jack is taken back home, to England. § THORGIL – an 11 year old young berserk, who dreams of dying in battle and going to Valhalla. Her mother was a thrall, a slave. Her father killed her little brother in a berserk rampage, then demanded as his dying wish that Thorgil’s mother would be burned with him when he falls in battle. After her father’s death she is taken care of by Olaf and his family. She meets Jack and Lucy when she and Olaf’s band kidnapped them in England. She teases Jack and Lucy and treats them as objects, as thralls. She stole a silver leaf necklace on one of their raids. She doesn’t have any friends except queen Frith’s hounds. On the audience at king Ivar Boneless’ court she is forced to give her silver necklace as a gift for queen Frith. Together with Olaf and Jack she travels to Jotunheim to seek help from Mountain Queen. She gets hurt during the fight with troll bear, throughout which Olaf kills the bear but dies of wounds. Before his death he proclaims Thorgil his daughter. With sprained ankle Thorgil can’t walk very fast. She and Jack are taken by the dragon mother to her nest, to be fed to baby dragons. Thanks to Jack and Bold Heart the eldest dragon baby kills the rest of his siblings and Thorgil kills him. During the fight some of dragon’s blood gets on her face and to her mouth. For some time she is unable to speak due to molting dragon blood, but is granted a gift of understanding the speech of air creatures, birds for instance. Thanks to that ability she understood three owls who were speaking about finding shelter in a hidden valley. Jack takes Thorgil and she leads the way to the valley, where they spend couple of days. When Golden Bristles finds them, they all travel to Mountain Queen’s castle, and are attacked by a giant eagle on the bridge. Thorgil kills him and they finally reach the palace. Together with Jack she is granted permission to go to Mimir’s Well. She sacrifices her dream of becoming a berserker and drinks water from the Well. After accepting Jack’s rune amulet and drinking water from the Well Thorgil changes completely. She is no longer a blood-thirsty berserker, who dreams of death. She does not treat Jack as a thrall anymore and she gains friends. Although she has sometimes her outbursts of anger, but her general attitude has changed. § BROTHER AIDEN – a Pict and a librarian monk, the last survivor from the Holy Isle. He was found by Father Severus during his penance in the forest. Aiden was supposed to be sacrificed for the Wild Hunt. Father Severus broke his penance and took the child to the Holy Isle, where Aiden became a monk. § BRUTUS – a slave in St. Fillian’s Monastery, condemned for witchcraft (more precisely, for seducing all kinds of women). According to Father Swein, Brutus’ mother was a witch. He is a son of the true king and queen of Din Guardi, before Yffi came and killed them. Brutus is an heir of Lancelot. Successfully accomplished the mission to bring back water to Bebba’s Town. § BRUDE – leader of the Picts in Elfland. His men and him are the Old Ones, the same picts that had been there when the Romans came. They are more than hundred years old. They fell under the spell of the Fair Folk, the elves, and they were serving them ever since. § PARTHOLIS' '– queen of the Elfland, living in Elfhame; mother of Lucy and Ethne, wife of Partholon § PARTHOLON – king of the Elfland, father of Lucy, husband of Partholis § PEGA – village chief’s slave; an ugly girl with a birthmark covering half of her face. Nobody knows who was her mother, but she was condemned to slavery at very young age, and she has been sold from village to village until she ended up as a chief’s slave. § FOREST LORD – also known as the Green Man; one of the Old Gods, possibly worshipped by the Picts. He was first on this land, together with Man in the Moon, Wild Hunter, and the Gnomes. He hates everyone who kills his children – trees and animals. Forst Lord besieged Din Guardi in the past, and now the Hedge, one of the Lord’s aspects, stays outside the castle. He was there when the Picts came, punishing them for cutting the trees; and Celts, Brits, Romans, and Saxons after them. Forest Lord, as one of the Old Gods, still claim the fortress, besieging it from the land, while the Sea God from the sea. § MAN IN THE MOON – one of the Old Gods, who is condemned to wander the sky alone; visits the green world only during the new moon. Due to a request made by his brother, Forest Lord, he sent madness upon pictish women, making them commit suicide by jumping from the cliffs, drowning. It was a revenge for Picts cutting down the trees. Man in the Moon built and was once the lord of Din Guardi, but he was discarded, and Din Guardi taken from him. While ruling Din Guardi, Man in the Moon wanted to rule and control everything, even the green world. He would do everything to gain power, that’s why he was an ally of Unlife. The Gnomes discarded him to the moon, but they were not able to undo his damages to the land. After that, the Unlife prevented the Old Gods, including Gnomes, from entering the realm of Din Guardi. § WILD HUNTER '''– one of the Old Gods, claiming sacrifices made of people in the forest, like Aiden. § '''BUGABOO – king of the hobgoblins in Elfland; falls in love with Pega. § NEMESIS – Bugaboo’s advisor § FATHER SEVERUS '''- § '''FATHER SWEIN - § KNOCKERS – creatures, shapeshifters taking shape of one’s worst nightmare. One appeared as a bedbug, a dragon, and a giant nest full of snakes. § GNOMES – also called landvaettirs or Yarthkins; caring dieties, probably the Old Gods, of the earth and nature. § GILES CROOKLEG – father of Jack and Hazel, step father of Lucy § ALDITHA – Jack and Hazel’s mother, Lucy’s stepmother; a village witch, trained in simple spells and charms § THE BARD– irish skald and sorcerer, known as the Dragon Tongue. Lured by Partholis to the Elfland when he was collecting mistletoe. Partholis was charmed with him, but imprisoned him anyway. After a year Bard got away, leaving with a part of Partholon’s best spells. He is also Ethne’s father. Category:Books